1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric insecticidal apparatus which is used by mounting in a heating device a vessel for storing an insecticidal solution.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, electric insecticidal apparatuses are widely used in which an insecticidal solution is stored in a vessel mounted on a heating device and a heating element of the heating device heats a wick inserted into the vessel so as to, vaporize the insecticidal solution absorbed by the wick whereby the insecticide is dispersed into the atmosphere. In these conventional electric insecticidal apparatus, since the period of service of the insecticidal vessel is quite long, some of the conventional electric insecticidal apparatus can be effectively used successively for dozens of days without the need for replacing the insecticidal vessel with a new one.
However, in these currently commercially available electric insecticidal apparatus, the insecticidal vessel for storing the insecticidal solution has a very sophisticated construction in which a special rodlike liquid-absorbing wick made of an inorganic mineral and an organic material is inserted into the vessel and an inner stopper for fixing the wick in place and preventing leakage of the insecticidal solution is mounted on the vessel. Furthermore, a threaded lid for sealing the insecticide within the vessel when the vessel is not in use is provided on the vessel. Therefore, the vessel becomes rather expensive.
On the other hand, an electric insecticidal apparatus designed to be produced at lower cost is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 8-244842 (1996). In this known electric insecticidal apparatus, a vessel 50 for storing insecticidal solution is made of plastic and has at least two chambers 51 and 52 formed by deep drawing as shown in FIG. 12. The insecticidal solution is encapsulated in the chamber 51 and a flaky wick 53 extends from the chamber 51 into the chamber 52. The chamber 51 is sealed together with the wick 53 by a cover 54, while the chamber 52 is sealed by a removable foil 55. When the vessel 50 is used, the wick 53 is exposed by peeling the foil 55. Then, as shown in FIG. 13, the vessel 50 is inserted into a housing 56 of a heating device including a heating element 57 and the insecticide is dissipated by heating with the heating element 57, the distal end of the which distal end confronts the heating element 57.
However, in this known electric insecticidal apparatus, when the vessel 50 is mounted on the housing 56 of the heating device, the vessel 50 is inserted into the housing 56 from an inlet 59 upwardly in the direction of the arrow C in FIG. 13. Therefore, in case the vessel 50 is replaced with a new one while an electric plug 58 is being received in a receptacle, it is difficult to perform replacement of the vessel 50. Hence, the housing 56 is made rotatable relative to the electric plug 58 as shown by the arrow D in FIG. 13. Therefore, in such a case, the inlet 59 of the housing 56 is directed sidewise or upwardly at the time of replacement of the vessel 50 and is returned to its original direction shown in FIG. 13 after replacement of the vessel 50.
Nevertheless, in this known electric insecticidal apparatus, since the wick 53 is flaky, it is difficult to maintain a distance between the wick 53 and the heating element 57 constant and it is necessary to insert the vessel 50 into the housing 56 with much care. Meanwhile, since the housing 56 is required to be rotated relative to the electric plug 58 in case replacement of the vessel 50 is performed while the electric plug 58 is being received in the receptacle, such problems arise that the number of operational steps for replacing the vessel 50 with a new one increases and contact of rotational portions of the housing 56 and the electric plug 58 with each other may readily become improper due to wear of the rotational portions of the housing 56 and the electric plug 58.